Burma frees political prisoners

Zarganar said other political prisoners should also be set free

The Burmese government has freed more than 150 political prisoners as part of a general amnesty, activists say.

A popular comedian and dissident, Zarganar, was among the first to be freed. Some monks and journalists were also released.

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed the amnesty.

Western nations maintain sanctions on Burma, and one of the key reasons is the country's continued detention of about 2,000 political prisoners.

They include journalists, pro-democracy activists, government critics, monks involved in anti-government protests and members of Burma's ethnic groups fighting for greater autonomy.

Zarganar was arrested in 2008 after publicly criticising the government response to Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 140,000 people.

Speaking to the BBC shortly after his release, Zarganar was wary of his new-found freedom, describing it as conditional.

"If I do something wrong they will send me back. I'm not happy today because there are so many of my friends still in prison," he said.

Leaders of a failed uprising in 1988 are reportedly still in jail.

Bold step?
A Burmese prison official told the BBC that 300 dissidents had been freed, but this figure cannot yet be confirmed.

The human rights group Amnesty International said Burma's government - a nominally civilian administration dominated by leaders of the former military regime - must free more political detainees if it is seriously committed to reform.
"This release of political prisoners is welcome, but is not consistent with the authorities' recent promises of political reform in Burma," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International's Burma researcher, who is based in Bangkok.

"Unless the figure rises substantially, it will constitute a relaxation of reform efforts rather than a bold step forward."

The government said on Tuesday that more than 6,000 prisoners would be freed but it was unclear how many would be political detainees.

Ms Suu Kyi, herself freed from 15 years of house arrest last year, said: "We hope many more will be released. I'm really thankful for the release of political prisoners."

A number of monks are thought to be among those freed, but early reports that one of their leaders, Shin Gambira, had been released, could not be confirmed.

He led street protests in 2007 that were crushed by the previous military government.

Barometer of change
Burma announced an amnesty of 15,000 prisoners in May 2011 and freed more than 7,000 in 2009 - but those moves were criticised by rights groups for failing to include political prisoners.

Burma held its first elections in two decades almost a year ago - polls which saw military rule replaced with a military-backed civilian-led government.

Since then the government has freed Aung San Suu Kyi and held a dialogue with her.

But Nyan Win of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) told the BBC that a prisoner release was not all that was needed.

"The release of political prisoners is just one of the barometers of the government's seriousness about a change to democracy," he said.

"There should be other developments like media freedom, and the relaxation of censorship among other things."

The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says pro-democracy activists, human rights organisations and Western diplomats are likely to scrutinise carefully the list of those released on Wednesday and tailor their response accordingly.